Republicans stepping in own way on immigration

FILE - This Nov. 6, 2012 file photo shows voters lined up in the dark to beat the 7 p.m. deadline to cast their ballots at a polling station in Miami. House Republicans still smarting from their poor showing among Hispanics in the presidential election are planning a vote in late November 2012 on immigration legislation that would both expand visas for foreign science and technology students and make it easier for those with green cards to bring their immediate families to the U.S. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
— AP

FILE - This Nov. 6, 2012 file photo shows voters lined up in the dark to beat the 7 p.m. deadline to cast their ballots at a polling station in Miami. House Republicans still smarting from their poor showing among Hispanics in the presidential election are planning a vote in late November 2012 on immigration legislation that would both expand visas for foreign science and technology students and make it easier for those with green cards to bring their immediate families to the U.S. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
/ AP

WASHINGTON 
After Mitt Romney's loss in the presidential election, Republicans quickly identified one of their mistakes as the party's dysfunctional relationship with Hispanic voters, who overwhelmingly voted for President Barack Obama. But the earliest efforts by GOP lawmakers to tackle immigration policy on Capitol Hill aren't likely to win them new support among Hispanics.

The first immigration-related bills offered by Republicans this week would provide legal status for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants - but no way for them to become U.S. citizens - and would eliminate the popular diversity lottery that randomly awards green cards to would-be immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The two bills have virtually no chance in the lame-duck session, but they are significant because they are the first on the legislative agenda since the election.

Early reviews aren't enthusiastic.

"We don't see the writing on the wall," said Lionel Sosa, a Texas Republican who served as a Hispanic media consultant for presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. "We don't see that the electorate is changing and we need to make changes. The longer we send out messages that Latinos take some offense to, the longer it's going got take us to recover the Latino vote."

Republicans are offering some olive branches to Hispanic voters. Retiring Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas introduced on Tuesday a narrowly tailored DREAM Act-like bill dubbed the Achieve Act. It offers visas for some young illegal immigrants who arrived before they turned 14 and are 28 or younger and are in the military or pursuing a college or technical degree, but it wouldn't allow them any way to become citizens.

The DREAM Act, which narrowly passed the House before being defeated in the Senate two years ago, would offer citizenship for young illegal immigrants. Such proposals have been derided as "amnesty" by GOP lawmakers - and by Romney, who promised he would veto the legislation.

This week, House Republicans are also considering a bill that annually would give 55,000 new green cards, or permanent visas, to foreign students in science, technology, engineering and math. The so-called STEM bill would also make it easier for those green card holders to be reunited with spouses or children living abroad. But it would eliminate the popular diversity lottery, and Democrats have argued that it actually would reduce overall legal immigration.

Kyl, one of the bill's sponsors, said the timing of the legislation isn't a political response to the election.

"We have to get the ball rolling," he said.

Romney's chief political strategist this week said the campaign's biggest mistake was how it dealt with Hispanic voters. "We should have done a better job reach out to Hispanic voters," Stuart Stevens said in an interview with CBS's Charlie Rose on Thursday. "We should have done it earlier and in a more effective way." One day earlier, in an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Stevens noted that Romney did better than Obama among what he described as middle-class voters, especially white voters younger than 30, and described Obama's strategy as "being too liberal and too dependent on minorities."